Where Do You Stand?

Remember SHIFT’s social media release template? When it came out in May, 2006 it was all the buzz – the New Big Thing in PR.

But what happened when the template was released? Was it successful? Were PR practitioners using it? Most importantly, did journalists (and all members of the media, social and traditional) like it?

What we saw across the PR industry was this: firms scrambling to fit the template, to integrate the practice of using social media releases into their client work.

Not to be outdone, Edelman worked up their own version, calling it StoryCrafter. Again, nothing new here but it sidesteps the suggestion that the document has to LOOK a specific way (as SHIFT’s template does, with rounded corners and graphics to indicate links), or, necessitate the creation of a .pdf document – an obstacle that creates a whole new series of issues (design needs, attachments, no linkable URL, not uploadable to wire services, etc.)

You’re not going to see a lot of releases out there using these very specific “social media templates” – it’s not because there aren’t any early adopters out there – its because they haven’t been adopted.

Some reactions to SMRs: from IABC and Shel Holtz, from TechCrunch and from Tom Foremski.

The concept behind the social media release, the ideas that generated its creation have definitely made it. It’s de rigueur to link externally from releases to other sites, including blogs. It’s common and absolutely recommended that you include links to the online media kit, the Flickr site, or a YouTube video that corresponds with the release’s news. Link to the audio, share the photos and include (if you’re pitching to a savvy audience) social bookmarking tools such as Del.icio.us.

But don’t feel as if you need to create a document that looks just like SHIFT’s release. Chances are, your recipient won’t see it and if he/she does, they won’t have any idea what they’re looking at. What’s important is to create a release that is linkable and has its own, unique URL – you can do this by using the wire services for distribution, by posting the release on a client’s Web site or better yet, a blog or by creating a release in Google Docs.

Outside of the SHIFT mold, here are some examples of social media releases that work (and note that it’s only really big consumer groups doing this):

The Ford Focus
HP

The point I’m trying to make here is this: the components of a social media release are important – I think we all get that – and need to include some or, ideally all of these elements:

• Hyperlinks to relevant content or sites
• Technorati tags
• Social bookmarking options like Del.icio.us, so your news can be shared
• RSS feed from the wire service and/or, ideally, the client’s own Web site
• Links to additional resources (if they exist and are relevant) such as logos, media kits, audio, video and photos

Beyond that – it doesn’t need to should not be a .pdf or “match” the original SHIFT template – at all. It’s all about linkable content, and making sure the media (whether they’re traditional media or citizen journalists) knows what to do with it when they get it.

My friend and fellow social mediaphile Jim Duncan and I had lunch recently. We were on the topic of Twitter, when Jim said, “How would you explain Twitter to John McCain?” As with anyone raised, employed and heck, darn near retired before the digital age, McCain and his generation are the toughest audience when explaining social media. Add to that the challenge of doing it in 140 characters or less and I believe all bets are off. Twitter themselves can do it, though — their homebase message is this:

“Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.” That’s 84 characters, folks.

Of course that definition would never work with McCain. “Microwho-ing?” he might say.

Ironically, the same day Jim issued his challenge, I caught this YouTube clip of Katie Couric explaining YouTube to Larry King; same genre, same generation. I shared it with Jim via Twitter, natch.

Once again, Commoncraft comes to our rescue in yet another video in the Plain English series, designed to make sense of all these social media terms and tools we’re steadily adding to our vocabularies and our computers.

Meanwhile, I’m still struggling to explain Twitter in 140 characters or less. I might like this, though, “An online tool for sharing what you’re doing right now and finding out what others are doing and thinking, no matter where they are.” That’s 108. What would you say?

I was recently honored as the C’ville Weekly Abode feature subject for Erika Howsare’s A Room of One’s Own article. As Standing Partnership’s only full-time home office employee (I manage the Charlottesville presence of the reputation management firm), I have had to place a certain focus on what makes it possible to work at home successfully. There have definitely been some challenges to overcome and there’s no doubt in my mind that working from home is not for everyone.

It was fun to be interviewed and have a photographer show up at my home to take shots of my recently repainted home office. It’s always good for PR people to have the shoe on the other foot, as it were — so often we prep clients for interviews and that day, I had to prep myself.

Here’s the article from the June edition.

Thanks again, Erika Howsare, Cathy Harding and C’ville Weekly!

In this week’s edition of Newsweek, the reader-contributed essay My Turn (perhaps my favorite feature of the magazine) is titled “Closing Shop — And a Life by Sal Nunziato.” The writer shares the story of his life as the owner of an independent music store and the relationship he had with customers who he knew not only by name, but by musical preference.

He also writes of his connection to Erika, the Starbucks barista around the corner from his shop who took the time to develop a relationship with her customers.

“Erika knew me. This corporate java behemoth actually employed someone who found the time to learn and remember my name and my order. Erika (not her real name) was a rock star to me. She knocked seconds, eventually minutes, off my waiting time. I’d walk in and, boom, a latte was in my hand. A minor thrill, but a thrill nonetheless.”  

Once Erika left Starbucks, Sal did too, the challenge of starting over with a new coffee friend too exhausting to consider.

I have an “Erika” too. Her name is Ashley. Ashley doesn’t just work at Mudhouse, my frequent morning java stop, she wraps herself in it. Each morning she describes the coffee I’m about to enjoy with phrases like “deep chocolate undertones and a  rolling, fruity finish.” Each description is like listening to a seasoned sommelier at a wine tasting. This morning she cheerfully informed me that my cup of joe was saving victims of genocide. For $1.90, I get a large coffee and a show.

Ashley has become my de facto co-worker. Since I work at home, I don’t get the experience others do of seeing colleagues every day. I miss out on the breakroom chat, the coffeemaker gossip. Ashley makes up for it, often commenting on my outfit, asking about my day, my plans for the weekend, noticing when I get a haircut; she keeps me coming back to Mudhouse again and again. It’s this kind of relationship-building that Sal Nunziato understood was why his customers came to his music store and why his latte at Starbucks was ultimately more than just a latte.

Listening to Ashley describe the day’s offering of coffeealongside another customer, my fellow caffiene addict commented to me, “I wish I was as passionate about my job as she is.” Every company needs an Ashley, an Erika, a Sal; and when a company finds they have one of these gems on board, they should reward them as often and as lavishly as possible. They’re the reason we keep coming back.

Mudhouse photo via Flickr, originally uploaded by Jarsonic.

Standing Partnership has taken a cue from several of our clients and instituted “summer Fridays.” We’ve previously offered the option to cut out at noon one Friday a month, provided staff had logged all weekly time before lunchtime. This summer, however, EVERY Friday is a summer Friday, with many of us working longer days earlier in the week so we can extend our weekends a bit. Office staff at the HQ take turns giving up one Friday to “person” the phones and make it all possible.

I’ve had trouble, in the past, fitting these bonus mini-vacation days into my schedule. It seems like some need or unfinished project would push into the late afternoons at the end of the week, but this summer, I’m doing my best to take advantage of this offer, even if it means working a bit earlier in the day. An afternoon poolside is just too tempting to resist.

How does your workplace celebrate summertime? Do you have the option to flex your time and enjoy the weather?

A couple of months ago, my colleague Amber goaded Melissa into writing a blog post by calling her a hypocrite. In her follow-up post, Amber said, “I can completely understand and empathize with Melissa’s concern about finding the time to blog. It’s a common response to social media – at least for me and others who aren’t addicted.”

When I read that I thought, “That’s me; she’s talking about me — one of the people addicted to the internet.” I took umbrage at that post, and thought, “I’m not addicted! I can stop any time I want to!” In fact, I took a little break from my personal blog for about a month, turning away from my online life to focus a bit more on my offline life. In this space, I’ve stepped aside briefly to allow my colleagues to have more presence in this collaborative corporate blog. My respite from blogging, however, did not make national news as the unplugged project of Ariel Stallings, fellow blogger and BlogHer pal, whose 52 nights of text, Twitter, IM and blog-free living did.

Am I a tech junkie? Yes, I guess I am. Even while I’ve managed weekends of online-free life, it never lasts long. And even while I’ve taken breaks from contributing online content, I have never stopped reading and absorbing. It’s that, more than anything, to which I am addicted. Like a true addict, here comes the rationalization: I’m doing it for clients! It’s my job, my responsibility! But it’s really more than that; I have a driving need to know what’s going on in people’s minds, in my industry, with people I care about and people I find interesting.

I’ll let you know when I need an intervention.  

Steve Cody, aka Rep Man has a post on the PRSA blog, ComPRehension about “Walking the Walk.” In it, Cody encourages PR firms to blog, as a way of gaining the experience of strategies they may be recommending to clients.

“Blogging is so much more than just an important tool in the overall public relations counselor’s arsenal. Rather, it represents that rare opportunity in which we can not only provide counsel, but ‘live the experience’ as well,” he says.

I felt a bit dismayed as I read his post. While I agree with what Cody says, it’s unfathomable to me that there are firms out there who still have not experienced social media as a service to their clients. PRSA seems to have a gentle stance on social media; they’re encouraging knowledge but not saying what we know to be true. If you’re a professional communicator, get social media experience — not now, yesterday. It is, in my opinion, PR malpractice to not be intimately familiar with the most widespread, accessible and popular communication tools of the last twenty years.

In fact, I think firms who are not embracing social media and who claim to be “more traditional” PR firms might as well say, “We don’t e-mail information. We fax it.”

I realize this is a pretty strong statement, but if you’re a PR professional worth your salt (or salary) you owe it to your clients and your firm to get smart about today’s and tomorrow’s communications tools. Blogging is just one slice of the pie. Your clients’ communities are using Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging to communicate. The media is using these tools as well, in fact, pitching via Twitter is fast becoming a perfectly acceptable and by some, welcomed method as it limits the pitch to 140 characters.

It’s time to take stock. If you’re thinking of hiring a PR firm, find out about their social media experience. Ask to see the firm’s social media resume. What are they doing for themselves in the online space? Do the members of the firm blog professionally and/or personally? Are they capable and practiced at monitoring the online conversation about their clients? Find out what online tools they would explore using to support your company’s objectives.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter from a Charlottesville publication about my home office. When asked about my “routine” for working at home, I launched into my spiel of all I’ve learned since I began working in a home office two and a half years ago.

I am the only member of Standing Partnership who works full-time from a home office. Since my move to Charlottesville from St. Louis, I’ve had this privilege which is sometimes a curse, sometimes a blessing. Some of my colleagues work from home a day or two a week, but I make a big distinction between working from home temporarily, and working at home: doing it full-time with no outside office as an option.

The reporter stopped in her tracks when I told her that before I start work every morning I get completely dressed down to shoes, do my hair and makeup and put on lipstick. “Really?” she asked, somewhat astonished, I think. Yes, I wear lipstick in my home office. Why? Because I need to feel like I’m going to work; need to feel like, even though my commute may be down two flights of stairs and my office is, in fact, in the same structure in which I live with my family, when I cross that threshold, I am at Standing Partnership, ready to face the day.

I have stored up many of these tips for working at home, some learned through experience and some shared by others who telecommute or have worked in a home office full-time for a number of years. I’ve learned that working at home is not for everyone. It takes a lot of discipline and structure. It requires working space that matches the employee’s work style. It requires trust and freedom from the employer, which must be earned.

Do you work at home, sometimes? Have you or do you work at home, full-time now? What tips and tricks have you learned that make working in your living space successful?

Ever have a story that almost happens?

We had a peach of an opportunity. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band booked tee times at Spring Creek Golf Club, a client of Standing Partnership’s in Charlottesville, Va. While The Boss and the band didn’t want publicity while they played (and we respected that, of course) there was potential for some photos and some post-game publicity.

Springsteen ultimately didn’t make it; he was busy rehearsing for his concert at John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday night and some of the stage and audio crew, as well as a couple of E Street band guys, kept the tee times instead.  At left is a photo of the tour bus I shot in the parking lot of the course; in the window you can see a small Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band sign.

While it was disappointing not to get to meet The Boss, it was also very exciting that he and his band had chosen Spring Creek Golf Club, Golf Digest’s 2007 number one best new affordable public golf course, as the golf course they wanted to play in Virginia.

Springsteen doesn’t know what he missed — or, he did, when his friends returned from the course to tell him how spectacular it really is. Next time you’re in town, Bruce, we’ll have the course ready for you.

Here are a few more shots I took of the course; it was a beautiful day out at Spring Creek.

Michelle Golden has a great point on her Golden Practices blog. At Standing, when we begin branding conversations with clients we lead them through discussion about who they ARE; what promise they’ve made and kept to their communities. A different approach, and one that may be simpler for clients who are in disagreement about who they are and what they offer, is to encourage discussion about who and what they are NOT.

I’m looking forward to having some of these brand-defining conversations with new clients in weeks to come.